Booked Solid
Updating on books I've read recently.
To begin with, Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner. Helen of Sparta questions her role in her family and in society in ancient Greece. She's headstrong, determined, and a fighter. She questions why, as she will be Queen of Sparta one day, she can't learn to fight like her brothers. She makes a good enough case that she is taught with them to defend herself and to attack. She also meets with a few other strong women characters who help her learn to ride or get what she wants out of life, to show that Helen, at least, expects more from her life than to be a wife, mother, and queen. When we leave Helen, she's on her way (disguised as a boy again) to find her brothers who have joined up with Jason to search for the Golden Fleece. I'm looking forward to reading the next one, Nobody's Prize, as soon as one of my co-workers has finished it. It's a good story for girls, I think, because Helen does ask why she gets more notice for being pretty but nobody wants to see her stand up for herself.
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. The four Willoughby children, Tim, Barnaby A, Barnaby B, and Jane, determine that the ill-treatment they receive from their parents entitles them to be Orphans. After all, they are Old-Fashioned Children and look at how things turned out for Sara Crewe, Oliver Twist, and so on. They suggest their parents take a vacation to dangerous places so that the children may become Orphans. Naturally, they'll have a Kind Hearted Nanny to take care of them in their parents' absence. Things work out (after the house is sold, after their parents mysteriously refuse to die, after they've abandoned a baby on a neighbor's front porch) in an old-fashioned way and it's just a great tongue-in-cheek read. A good precursor to A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lowry's Glossary in the back is devilishly funny.
Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Frankie is not your typical high school sophomore. She attends Alabaster, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts, she is part of the Geek Conglomerate, is dating senior Matthew Livingston, and is not content to be a pretty bubbled headed 15 year old. She doesn't understand why her school, and on a larger scale, the world, has to be such an Old Boys Club. She wants to be a part of it instead of being brushed aside as "just a girl." Frankie, being the resourceful, stubborn, strategist she is, decides that she won't just be a part of the Club, she'll run it. The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds is Alabaster's response to other secret societies in upper class in schools. Frankie's father was once a member and refuses to share anything about the society but she manages to find a way in and to instruct the Bassets in their school pranks. Who would believe that this sophomore is calling the shots? Frankie is definitely another one of those female characters, like Helen in Nobody's Princess, who refuses to simply lie back and accept her stereotyped role in her world. It's a fantastic story. Frankie longs for someone to really see her and doesn't find it in anyone who is close to her. But it ends on a positive note because you know that being the strong individual she is, she's bound to change the world.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Marji is growing up Iran in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her parents are pretty awesome. She's somewhat aware of what's going on in the world around her and is another person who doesn't want to simply accept what's happening. She attends a protest as a young girl. It's a fantastic graphic novel (the one the animated film, Persepolis, is based on) with a compelling story and I'm looking forward to reading Persepolis 2 (after, of course, I pare down on the pile I currently have waiting for me, including Armageddon in Retrospect, The Swan Kingdom, How to Make Friends and Oppress People: Classic Travel Advice for the Gentleman Adventurer [a fantastic looking book created from travel books published a century ago I received for my birthday], and Sabriel, which I've just begun today. So I'll be a bit busy).
There's always time for movies and video games, however, and Iron Man is so much better than I anticipated that I'm actually looking forward to a sequel that could so easily be made. Saw Forbidden Kingdom a few weeks ago as well, which was entertaining enough (Jet Li & Jackie Chan, who wouldn't be entertained?). MarioKart for the Wii is super awesome. I don't like the steering wheel as much as I like using the GC controller. Looking forward to possibly doing a tournament with other libraries that own a Wii, which would be TOO COOL.
Until I've finished another book (or three), I remain your
Savage Librarian.
To begin with, Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner. Helen of Sparta questions her role in her family and in society in ancient Greece. She's headstrong, determined, and a fighter. She questions why, as she will be Queen of Sparta one day, she can't learn to fight like her brothers. She makes a good enough case that she is taught with them to defend herself and to attack. She also meets with a few other strong women characters who help her learn to ride or get what she wants out of life, to show that Helen, at least, expects more from her life than to be a wife, mother, and queen. When we leave Helen, she's on her way (disguised as a boy again) to find her brothers who have joined up with Jason to search for the Golden Fleece. I'm looking forward to reading the next one, Nobody's Prize, as soon as one of my co-workers has finished it. It's a good story for girls, I think, because Helen does ask why she gets more notice for being pretty but nobody wants to see her stand up for herself.
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. The four Willoughby children, Tim, Barnaby A, Barnaby B, and Jane, determine that the ill-treatment they receive from their parents entitles them to be Orphans. After all, they are Old-Fashioned Children and look at how things turned out for Sara Crewe, Oliver Twist, and so on. They suggest their parents take a vacation to dangerous places so that the children may become Orphans. Naturally, they'll have a Kind Hearted Nanny to take care of them in their parents' absence. Things work out (after the house is sold, after their parents mysteriously refuse to die, after they've abandoned a baby on a neighbor's front porch) in an old-fashioned way and it's just a great tongue-in-cheek read. A good precursor to A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lowry's Glossary in the back is devilishly funny.
Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Frankie is not your typical high school sophomore. She attends Alabaster, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts, she is part of the Geek Conglomerate, is dating senior Matthew Livingston, and is not content to be a pretty bubbled headed 15 year old. She doesn't understand why her school, and on a larger scale, the world, has to be such an Old Boys Club. She wants to be a part of it instead of being brushed aside as "just a girl." Frankie, being the resourceful, stubborn, strategist she is, decides that she won't just be a part of the Club, she'll run it. The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds is Alabaster's response to other secret societies in upper class in schools. Frankie's father was once a member and refuses to share anything about the society but she manages to find a way in and to instruct the Bassets in their school pranks. Who would believe that this sophomore is calling the shots? Frankie is definitely another one of those female characters, like Helen in Nobody's Princess, who refuses to simply lie back and accept her stereotyped role in her world. It's a fantastic story. Frankie longs for someone to really see her and doesn't find it in anyone who is close to her. But it ends on a positive note because you know that being the strong individual she is, she's bound to change the world.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Marji is growing up Iran in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her parents are pretty awesome. She's somewhat aware of what's going on in the world around her and is another person who doesn't want to simply accept what's happening. She attends a protest as a young girl. It's a fantastic graphic novel (the one the animated film, Persepolis, is based on) with a compelling story and I'm looking forward to reading Persepolis 2 (after, of course, I pare down on the pile I currently have waiting for me, including Armageddon in Retrospect, The Swan Kingdom, How to Make Friends and Oppress People: Classic Travel Advice for the Gentleman Adventurer [a fantastic looking book created from travel books published a century ago I received for my birthday], and Sabriel, which I've just begun today. So I'll be a bit busy).
There's always time for movies and video games, however, and Iron Man is so much better than I anticipated that I'm actually looking forward to a sequel that could so easily be made. Saw Forbidden Kingdom a few weeks ago as well, which was entertaining enough (Jet Li & Jackie Chan, who wouldn't be entertained?). MarioKart for the Wii is super awesome. I don't like the steering wheel as much as I like using the GC controller. Looking forward to possibly doing a tournament with other libraries that own a Wii, which would be TOO COOL.
Until I've finished another book (or three), I remain your
Savage Librarian.
Labels: books, female characters, funny, movies, video games
posted by austentatious at 11:57 AM
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